An interview with Øyvind Johannesen

* Congratulations with your great results in 2007! Norwegian champion and top ten in your first Ironman! Which other races have you done in 2007?

I did Singapore 70.3, where I came 9th after a good ride and I also came top 7 in 5 longdistance and half ironman races in Australia, so 2007 was a good year J. But I must say that the highlight for me was winning the Norwegian champs both the Olympic distance and the Long distance and taking out the kings trophy! This has been a goal for me, and so it was good to finally do it after 2 years in Australia, not competing in Norway. The other highlight was of course Ironman Malaysia, where I finished my first Ironman in 8th place in an ironman that was called the toughest show on earth! I must say it was amaysing to finish an ironman at all, especially when most of the marathon was in the sun in 40 degree heat and 90% humidity! And to have the best bike split and get 8th over all was so outside what I had expected!

* Tell us about yourself. What is your background. In sports and professional.

I'm a 24 year old boy(man ☺) from Oslo (oh, this wasn't a social site ☺). I have lived in Oslo most of my life and since I was 7 till I was about 14-15 I was a swimmer, but then I got sick of seeing the line at the bottom of a pool 9times a week… At the same time I was running faster than anyone at my school and I enjoyed riding, so I thought that triathlon would be a nice way to combine everything. Another reason was that I thought it would be easy to win (to be honest), but that came back and bit me a certain place, when a cross-country skier beat me in my first youth championship in triathlon in Torvikbukt in 1999… After that, I decided that it would never happen again, and I took it a lot more seriously and in 2000, I won everything I competed in including the Nordic youth championships…
After 2000 it went a bit up and down, but in 2002 I had a good year where I did ok in the European junior championships and also came 4th in the Nordic junior championships and 3rd over all (winning the junior class) in the Norwegian Olympic distance championships… After finishing 2002 with Birkebeinerrittet, where I came 7th in the junior class with bronchitis in a time of about 3h 9min, I had a couple of years where I didn't have any good results, and so I decided to go to Australia, where I studied physics and trained.
The first 1,5 years I moved slowly forward, but it was when I started training more in the end of 2006 I improved a lot, and the 7th place I got in the 2007 Tasmania Half Ironman was my first good result on an international level, and the start of a fantastic year for me (in triathlon, but I had to quit my studies as it was too much training…)!
Outside of triathlon I have been working as a swimming instructor, something I enjoy a lot, but I also intend to finish my studies from this Autumn…


* Why did you choose to race Norseman and what is your race goal?

I chose to race Norseman after basically having been convinced that it wasn't as bad as what it sounds like J. It is probably the hardest ironman in the world and I have, since it started, wanted to do it, but I was planning to wait a bit longer… But then I heard that you have a following car all the way, so that you get the nutrition you need all the way, which normally is one of the hardest parts of an ironman, to time it correctly… and in Norway it is the race that everyone talks about and it is the race that people outside of triathlon thinks of when you mention that you do triathlon, so I thought, why wait, let's just do it J. And it is no secret that my goal is to win, and also set a new course record (depending on the course and the weather I guess though)…

* Do you do any special training for Norseman? Riding a lot of hills? Swimming in cold water etc? Or is it basic but intense and hard Ironman training?
My plan now is to start training for full in April, after having had 2 months of unstructured training in February and March, then I go to Vancouver, Canada, to train hard and race some half ironmans in May and June. In Vancouver I will try to get a lot of training in the high mountains and after I come back to Norway I will race the long distance championships, then move up to a cabin in the mountains for 2 weeks to keep training hard till the Olympic distance championships the 20th of July. After this I will decrease the training slowly to Norsman… Over the next 4 months I will also try to go through the course at least 4 times as well, as I think that is very important in a course like Norseman. One of the reasons why is to choose the equipment right and also plan a food strategy…

* Who do you think will be among the toughest competitors this year?

I must be honest and say that I don't know who will be there, and I don't really care, as it will have to be a race against the clock, or else you might blow your race early if you don't stick to your plan… It is important in a race like this to keep cool and don't panic, no matter what happens!


* A few days after going into 2008, we could read at your web page www.oyvindjo.com that you were "kicked out of Australia". Tell us what happend?

I will tell the short version ☺. I stopped my work with the coach I had in Australia for the three years I was there. The reasons aren't really important, but it got a bit nasty and we didn't get a long very good anymore, so we decided to go each our way, which is fine, but after that he also tried his best to get me out of Australia, and as he had better contacts in the management where I worked, he got them to pull my sponsorship, and so I had to leave, even though I had a 2 year contract, the immigration over there didn't care…

* What other race plans do you have for this season?

Now I'm going to Canada where I will race a few races, after that it will be the 2 Norwegian Championships, then Norseman and after that I will be training for my next Ironman and qualifying for Hawaii probably in March or April, after of course having had a good break…





* What is your long term ambitions in triathlon?

My long term goal is to win Hawaii, no doubt, and I still have a little dream to at least qualify to the Olympics (if I improve my swim of course)…

* Does it feel lonely to be a serious triathlete in Norway?

It is a very lonely sport here in Norway and I must say that it is sad that no one (or at least very few) in Norway takes this great sport very seriously. We just don't have any good coaches, any structured training or really any good qualified people in the sport here in Norway, and it is really no interest in bringing anyone in neither… So hopefully I and some of the other up and coming athletes can bring triathlon up to a new level here in Norway, so that people will take it a bit more seriously and also pay more attention to the sport!

* How serious are you about triathlon really? Is it your full time focus?
Triathlon is pretty much what I live for J. I really only work to earn enough money to train, and I hope one day to be able to live of just racing triathlon ☺.

* When will you participate at Ironman Hawaii at the first time?

My goal is to qualify late this year (ironman WA) or early next year (IM south Africa or new Zealand) for the 2009 Ironman. But I won't go there before I feel I have a good chance of getting top 10…

* What do you expect to be the most difficult at Norseman?

Without any doubt it must be the run, it's nuts J.
By Hårek and Jørgen